The present invention concerns an apparatus for dipping plating, and more particularly it concerns an apparatus for subjecting a plurality of rectangular objects to dipping plating.
Although there are numerous devices for dipping plating proposed and practiced in the conventional art, an apparatus for dipping plating such objects as an IC lead frame, which comprises a thin metal piece of a rectangular shape which has been subjected to press working and etching to obtain a predetermined, comparatively small size, is not available in the art as far as the inventors of this invention are aware. One reason for this is that it is difficult to process a number of such rectangular objects simultaneously. Also, it is difficult to improve the processing efficiency of such an apparatus, even if it were available, compared to the efficiency of other apparatuses used for other methods of processing, for instance the process of plating a long piece of coiled material by rewinding such a coil and plating the same while it is being transferred, and cutting the thus-plated objects into predetermined sizes and shapes.
When objects like an IC lead frame, comprising rectangular thin metal pieces which have been previously subjected to press forming and etching are to be dipping plated, a number of the objects to be plated are aligned on the support carriages, and the carriages are transported over a line to be subjected to various desirable processes in the plating baths in which various types of plating steps, such as washing with water, degreasing, strike plating, plating, washing with hot water, drying, etc., are carried out.
It has been considered quite difficult to develop an apparatus for dipping plating which is efficient and which can comply with the demand as mentioned above.